Mobile phones, like personal digital assistant (PDA) phones, are well known from the state of the art.
Such mobile phones usually comprise processing means providing a variety of functions and a display for presenting pieces of information to a user in accordance with a current context.
A mobile phone can be used in particular for communication purposes. In order to enable a communication, conventional mobile phones usually comprise an application managing a phonebook, which application is run by the processing means of the phone.
When the user opens the phonebook, a list of stored phone numbers are presented on the display. The user can then select one of these numbers by means of a number parser.
Alternatively, the user can input a desired phone number manually. The selected or the input number is used for establishing a desired connection, e.g. for a phone call, for sending an SMS (short message service) message or for transmitting a facsimile.
Mobile phones moreover often comprise static applications presenting some content on a display of the mobile phone, which content is not restricted to comprise a specific kind of information, e.g. a calendar, a browser or a messaging application. In some cases, a presented content will comprise a contact information based on which a connection could be established. Such a contact information can be for instance a phone number that might be used for establishing a phone call.
Known applications of this kind, however, do not comprise any immediate communication features themselves. They lack in particular call creation possibilities. For example, in case a user wants to establish a call to a phone number presented in a calendar, the user has first to enter the number again, or, in case the number is stored in the phonebook, to open a phonebook and select the number, before a connection can be established. This is obviously rather annoying for a user, since the desired phone number was already displayed. A direct manipulation method, which comprises tapping the number, further results in a high error rate. The same applies to other connection related information, e.g. email addresses or fax-numbers.